North-Up versus Direction-Up?

ContestID67 wrote:

OK, lets think about using north-up. My mind would be saying
something like, "I am pointing south-east because the compass says so
(or the glider icon) and I want to roll out north. Now, which
direction am I thermalling? Are there 90 degress or 270 degrees to
go? Ok, 270 degrees away, I should be there in 15 seconds. Wait, I
just went into sink, let's change that bank angle. Where was north
again? Darn, in the Midwest every direction looks identical! Oops,
I missed my exit point. I'll have to take one more circle at the top
of this thermal in weak lift. Didn't Moffat say that was a no-no?
Now, why ARE those other pilots leaving this thermal so soon?"

John, it's not that hard! The goal line remains steady while the track
line rotates. When the track line approaches the goal line, you can roll
out and go! Easy. If you aren't using a goal, you can still easily tell
which direction the track line is pointing and roll out on a North heading.

In reality, most pilots, most of the time, already know which way to go
because they remember what they were heading towards before they began
to circle. So, they don't even need to spend any time looking at the
PDA. Most of the time I'm thermalling, the map is covered by Mobile's
"Thermalling Assistant", so it doesn't matter what the map is doing.

The problem with Track Up while circling is it's hard to see what my
drift is (wind confirmation), to study the map, or pick another goal,
or get the details on some airspace because the map is moving. All these
are so much easier when the map is steady - and THAT'S how I reduce my
cockpit workload.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org